Ann Romney: Daughter-in-Law of a Welfare Recipient

Last week I watched Jon Stewart on The Daily Show absolutely skewer Mitt Romney and his campaign concerning the statements made on video regarding voters who support the president (and, by his logic, will never support him -- let alone take responsibility for themselves and their own lives) at that infamous Florida fundraising event. I would like to point to that clip and say simply, "What he said."

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Really, everyone ought to watch it. Stewart is a comedian, but that fact does not invalidate his points.

Not even interviews with Ann Romney herself, insisting that Mitt Romney doesn't "disdain the poor," that his words were "misinterpreted," that without President Romney, "more and more people will become dependent on government."

Folks, we are already dependent on government. To President Obama's point about how we "didn't build that" (now there's a quote that was doctored up beyond all recognition), the government provides products and services to us all. The slippery slope argument doesn't follow logically, nor do assertions that those who avail themselves of what government provides are "takers" (and those who don't are "makers").

Ann Romney is a mom, to be sure. A mom who worked hard to raise a houseful of boys. But she has grown ever more far removed from moms who don't just work hard, but struggle valiantly -- and still sometimes need assistance. Assistance that may come from family, friends, community, or the government.

If Ann Romney's mother-in-law were still living, perhaps she would educate her daughter-in-law on the realities of welfare recipients. They aren't all queens; some of them are future governors and presidential candidates -- just like her own husband's father.

I'm sure that the Romneys and their campaign have concocted some sort of justification for this historical fact (captured on video, even!), such as pointing to themselves as an example of how everybody on welfare can reach the point of living off the interest of their investments, paying only capital gains taxes each April.

But that doesn't negate the fact that once upon a time, the Romneys were dependent on the government. It's pretty rich that they'd seek to deny such assistance to others.